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Volume 60 No. 35
Sentinel
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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Federal NDP leader tours northwest By Margaret Speirs Enbridge’s plan for a pipeline and super tanker connection so that Alberta oil can be exported to Asia was again condemned by federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair during a one day tour of the area Aug. 18. “I’m categorically opposed to super tankers in the Douglas Channel,” he said during a press conference after landing at the Northwest Regional Airport the morning of August 18 and before embarking on a tour of Kitimat, Kitamaat Village, and Hartley Bay. He met with municipal and First Nations leaders at the locations. Mulcair was accompanied on the tour by Skeena - Bulkey NDP MP Nathan Cullen who is the party’s finance critic in the House of Commons. He said seeing the Douglas Channel, the route tankers would take in and out of Kitimat, was important for him to get an understanding of what was at stake. Mulcair also said First Nations issues are important in Canada and that he spends time on matters regarding First Nations people. Mulcair said it was important for all leaders to listen to the people, saying he and his wife went on a cross-country trip to listen to what the First Nations had to say. It was “humbling” as he realized the issues were very complex, said Mulcair. The NDP would respect first nation treaty rights and inherent rights and the party’s comprehensive approach would cost more money but needs to be done so future generations aren’t left with a huge economic debt. The James Bay Cree came up with a comprehensive agreement with the locals there and it’s worked, said Mulcair. Romeo Saganash, who worked on it, is now in the federal NDP caucus representing Northern Quebec, said Mulcair, adding he was proud to have Saganash there. The perception that the NDP is concerned with jobs in Ontario but not in BC isn’t correct, he said. “I want value-added [jobs],” he said about B.C., adding he didn’t like that 40,000 jobs had been exported and he didn’t like the federal Conservative government’s “rip and ship” approach. For example, he said Port Alberni at one time had several sawmills, but now raw logs were being exported to be processed elsewhere and then brought back here to sell, when workers here should be doing the work and getting paid for it. If we’re not careful, we will end up shipping our fish away to be processed and then shipping them back here to be sold, which doesn’t make much sense, he said. Continued on page 3
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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Willow Rudiger harvests some of the crop from the Kitimat Community Garden, which is located behind the Mountain View Alliance Church. Rudiger is handling the garden for Kitimat Community Services. Read more on page 3.
Teen pregnancies high in north Kitimat’s birth rates haven’t so far been taking off, but neither are they falling. A report from Northern Health released earlier this year shows the latest figures, as the health authority continues to monitor birth rates locally as the town sees the impact of a temporary work force. So to the numbers themselves, in the Kitimat area, from 2008 to 2013, there were 492 infants born to 486 mothers. From those, 174, or 35.80 per cent, were delivered in the ceasarean section method. Fifty-two births were to teen mothers, those 19 years or younger. As well, 50 births were to people over 35 years old, or as the report refers to is as “elderly gravida”. Finally, 54 or 11.11 per cent of the
mothers reportedly smoked during pregnancy. The teen mother statistic, says the report, “can provide indirect information about the effectiveness of sexual health education, access to contraceptives and other services for this age group, as it is assumed that most pregnancies among teens are unintended.” Northern B.C. mothers, the report also says, have “some of the highest teen pregnancy and teen birth rates in B.C.” As for the women over 35, the report says that those mothers have a higher risk of having a baby with a disease or “condition that is inherited as well as a greater chance of having complications during pregnancy.” The risks from smoking is fairly clear, the report noting higher risks of stillbirth, low birth weight and pre-
term birth. “Mothers from Northern B.C. have the highest ‘smoking during pregnancy’ rates in B.C.,” says the report. It also finds that mothers identified as smokers and for whom drugs are a risk factor are highest in northern B.C. The figure of 11.11 per cent of Kitimat mothers who smoked during pregnancy is higher than the provincial total, where 8.58 per cent of all B.C. mothers reported smoking during pregnancy. Also in comparison, the 35.8 per cent caesarean rate in Kitimat compares to B.C.’s total per cent of 30.82. Regionally, Kitimat leads the way in caesareans, well ahead of Terrace with an approximately 18 per cent rate among their births. Prince Rupert gets closer with an approximately 26 per cent rate. Continued on page 2
PM477761
Forest fires costly to BC...page 7